Speaking of patience and tolerance: we, the balloonists, monitor the weather non-stop. Especially on rainy days. Meteorological radars show cloud movement in real-time, so sometimes, even if a roof-tearing squall is passing through Lithuania at 3:00 PM, we will still call you and suggest meeting at the launch site, because we see that the squall should pass by takeoff time. Still, weather wouldn’t be weather if it didn’t throw surprises, so there is always a chance that even after meeting at the launch site, we’ll chat, look at the black clouds, and head home empty-handed.
It’s very annoying when half of the meteorological models show that conditions will be completely unsuitable for flying, while the other half show that it will be great. In cases where we suggest the passengers try to meet anyway, they ask us if we’re “all there”—after all, a storm is coming. Conversely, if we cancel the flight and the rain stops anyway, people are amazed at why we aren’t flying—the weather is so perfect! We just have to take the criticism with a bowed head and keep working 🙂
But the most frustrating thing is when all the models show perfect weather, you arrive at the launch site, the sky across all of Lithuania is crystal clear, and only in the spot where we want to take off has a little cumulus storm cloud formed and is hanging right over our heads. Not even the best meteorologists or algorithms can predict such cases, but they definitely happen and you just have to accept it.
So, when reserving a balloon flight, always keep in mind that this is Lithuania—it rains here, and sometimes you’ll have to wait a bit until nature finally shows us some favor. However, it’s worth emphasizing once more: in the vast majority of cases, if we meet, we fly. If the pilots invite you, it means they see a silver lining and the probability of flying is high; we don’t like driving around for nothing either 🙂
